1. Field
The disclosed concept pertains generally to electric loads and, more particularly, to methods of identifying different types of electric loads. The disclosed concept also pertains to systems for identifying different types of electric loads.
2. Background Information
In commercial or residential buildings, the use of plug-in loads accounts for about 36% of the total building electricity consumption. Effective management of plug-in loads can help users obtain energy saving potentials up to about 7% to about 15% of total building energy consumption. However, power consumption monitoring and energy management of plug-in loads inside buildings is often overlooked. Existing plug-in load control and management products (e.g., controllable power strips) are not considered to be effective solutions, since often-observed nuisance trips cause inconvenience to users and potential damage to appliances, and consequently downgrade the compliance rate of adopted solutions. One of the main reasons that cause such issues is the lack of visibility to the actual use status of the plug-in loads.
In order to obtain effective control and management of plug-in loads, as well as to ensure persistent energy conservation measures, building facility managers and end users have recognized the need to be aware of the types and operating status of plug-in loads being used inside buildings. In other words, finer granular visibility on energy usage of plug-in loads by load types is desired.
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2013/0138669, entitled: “System And Method Employing A Hierarchical Load Feature Database To Identify Electric Load Types Of Different Electric Loads”, which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a system and method that employs a hierarchical load feature database and classification structure as model-driven guidance for optimized feature selections.
There is room for improvement in methods of identifying different electric load types.
There is also room for improvement in systems for identifying different electric load types.